The Eye of Truth
by Lizai
Summary: “I used to say I wasn’t strong enough for anything that was going to happen to me. And I wasn’t. But I’ve gotten stronger. I can do so much more than this world needs me for.”
1. This Stupid, Pointless Little Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda. I will not make money off of this. Please don't sue me.

A.N.: I'm not sure about this... The overall concept is a little overdone, I know, but bear with me. I have lots of ideas for this. And please, critique, critique, critique! And also forgive me for casting myself as the main character. I couldn't resist. :D

This Stupid, Pointless Little Life

Elizabeth stared at the computer screen, willing something to happen. _Emma get online..._ she thought dully. _Chelle get online...Person update fanfic, Michelle Lancester or whatever your name is. I'm horrid with names. Why does this person's name have to be so huge? They're my favorite fanfic author so far and I can't even remember who the heck they are._

_ Hmm. Heck. Hell. Heckle. Heckleberry. Heckleberry Finn. I remember I named that creek in "Mythical" Huckleberry Creek._ For a moment, she turned over the word "Heckle" in the back of her throat. Yawning, she checked the religion and faith message board for the fifteen billionth time in the vain hope that someone had posted something of interest. _Nope, nothing._ She sighed. _Oh well. Pretty much what I expected, anyway._ For lack of anything better to do, she turned to to sift through the various Zelda fanfics out there. _WindWaker cast finds mainland. Sounds interesting, but no. I want OoT. I definitely do not want WindWaker. God I hated that game._ Elizabeth continued to scroll, wishing that her favorite fanfictions would get updated. _People write too slow. I want to know what happens!_

Finding nothing of interest, Elizabeth clicked the "Back" button on the browser a couple of times in order to get back to her favorite stories and check them for updates. _This layout sucks. I have to go through all these sideways steps just to get to the Zelda listings and then back to my favorites._

No updates. Elizabeth sighed and closed out AOL. No point in wasting her online time. _Probably a good thing I have that timer,_ she reflected. _Otherwise I'd spend all day online._ Stretching, she began to stand—and stopped, looking at the screen. Something was going wrong in the system, but not in a way she recognized. The screen was going green and gray, organized in fuzzy, slanted stripes that moved across the screen. A spark of panic ignited in Elizabeth's heart. _What did I do to it? Do I have a virus?_ "Dad?" she said quietly, voice shaking a little. She did not want to be the one responsible for crashing the computer! Then she remembered: He went back into work.

But before she could get to the phone, something showed up on the computer, golden and glowing. Elizabeth's eyes went wide._ The Triforce?_ she wondered. _Why the Triforce? What's going on here?_ Slowly she sank back into her seat, mesmerized by this phenomenon. The Triforce faded, to be replaced by something else: a crystal, outlined in dark green with all edges visible. Then this too left the screen, but instead of another image, a screen full of odd symbols replaced it. The letters flipped over one after the other, in a wave and suddenly Elizabeth saw the words in English. Her brow creased in an unconscious frown as she read: _By these signs you will know—_

But that's as far as she got before the screen blanked out suddenly. Elizabeth wiggled the mouse cautiously. Nothing happened. She wiggled it again. _I can't hear the computer..._ she thought worriedly, panic flaring again. She looked over next to the monitor to see if it had gotten unplugged. The green light was on... Suddenly the monitor turned on. Her background wavered for a moment, then settled into place with an audible click. Elizabeth stared for a moment at the familiar picture of the white – _grey,_ she corrected herself – Arabian stallion, with numerous icons lined up on the left. Shakily, she logged off of her account, and jumped as the farewell music came on. Without waiting to see the blue Windows XP screen, she stood up, nearly knocking over her chair in the process, and fled to her room.

Once there she closed the door, not bothering to touch the light switch and sank to the floor with her back against it, trembling with fear. Heart pounding in her ears, she listened for any sounds in the house, afraid that something may have followed her. For a while she just sat there, trying to slow her pulse and breathing rate, but as nothing attempted to break down the door (and as her boredom steadily grew), she stood, and flicked on the light. Carefully she stepped over the clutter and debris covering the wooden floor, picking her way towards her bed.

Near the mirror on her sister's dresser, she paused and looked over. Her appearance was about what she expected it to be: her short, wavy brown hair, once in a cute layered cut but now rather shaggy from a few months of growth, was rather limp and lackluster, since she hadn't brushed it today. Short streaks of shadow – they were always streaks for her, not circles – started near the inner corners of her eyes and shot out, as if put there by a painter with a short stroke of his paintbrush for each. She was wearing her shadow-purple shirt, so today her eyes appeared blue-green-gray with a light brown ring around the pupil.

Not for the first time, Elizabeth wondered what color her eyes really were. They had caused a bit of confusion when she got her sheriff's ID, for she wasn't sure quite how to describe them. _I think I settled for "hazel" in the end, didn't I?_ Her thick eyebrows were in slight disarray. She smoothed them, doing her best to make them neat. Elizabeth rather liked her eyebrows; they added character to her face. Above the eyebrows was a somewhat rectangular forehead, and the sides of her face stretched down for a bit until turning in to connect to the round elipse that was her jaw. She noted with dismay the faint "mustache" along her upper lip. _I'm a bearded lady,_ she thought bitterly, remembering the comments from various people on this unflattering facial feature. Despair manifested in a lump at the back of her throat and a faint, spread-out twinge in her chest and gut. Biting her bottom lip, she looked away, gazing instead at the clothing and various other articles littering her floor.

_I'm also stupid. It was a computer problem, Elizabeth,_ she scolded herself. _Monsters don't attack because your computer messes up._

_But why the Triforce?_ retorted the more gullible part of her. _And what was that message that showed up? I wish I could have read it all..._ Elizabeth shook her head. It was all too complicated for her. Spotting a book on the ground, she picked it up and swung up to her bunk by way of the side, ignoring the ladder on the end. This was faster, and more fun anyway. Arranging her bedclothes to her liking, Elizabeth opened the book to the first page. She wasn't really in the mood for this one, but anything would do to take her mind off reality and the unpleasant "gut-twinges", as she called them, it gave her. Anyway, it wouldn't take too long to get into the mood for it.

When she was confident that she was too tired to think before going to sleep, Elizabeth swung down, turned on her CD, and turned off the light, then swung back up onto her bed. If she had her way, she wouldn't have to take care of all that, and the light would automatically turn off when she fell asleep. Oh, and her book wouldn't get its pages and cover bent from having her face fall onto it. But she didn't have her way, so she had to face reality for a few moments before her head hit the pillow and she fell asleep.


	2. Ganondorf's Theme

AN: REVIEWS! I gasped with delight when I saw those review alerts, once it registered what they meant. I'm sorry about the confusion in the last chapter. I was hoping the italics would show up but, well, they didn't. I'll be altering that chapter in the future. And now, without further ado, the second chapter!

Did I forget my disclaimer last time? I think I did. I don't own Zelda and I won't make any money off of this. Wouldn't you feel terrible if you sued a poor little girl for having a little fun with her obsession?

Ganondorf's Theme

_Click._ Elizabeth's eyes flew open. _Beep, beep, beep, beep..._ As quickly as she could, she rolled over the guard rail on her bunk, dropped to the ground, stepped over to her alarm – and smacked snooze. Quickly, so that she wouldn't lose any of her seven minutes of snoozing time, she clambered back into bed, rearranged her very messy bedclothes so that she could lie down comfortably – even her bottom sheet and mattress pad had come loose from the corners of her bed – and closed her eyes.

This pattern repeated three more times and then, at 6:28 AM, Elizabeth finally hit the little button next to snooze – which had caused her to miss the bus a couple of times due to how similar "snooze" and "sleep" were – and stayed up. Gathering her clothes and towel, she went and took her shower.

_It is so nice not having my hair turn into icicles on the way to the bus stop,_ she reflected a little while later as she made her way down Etheridge Street. She avoided getting her hair wet in the shower if she had to go someplace shortly after taking it, but there was always a bit in back that got damp, and then got turned into icicles if it was cold enough outside. Which in winter, it often was. Elizabeth looked down the street to see if Tacarra was there -- then blinked. _Who's that?_ she wondered. Carrie wasn't there, but someone else was: someone tall, with bright red hair and a lot of muscles. Elizabeth frowned, puzzled. _Is it Chuck?_ she wondered, thinking of the annoying high-school boy who was always so obnoxiously loud and perverted on the bus. But no, this man (there was no way it wasn't a man) was a lot taller and broader than Chuck, and though it was hard to tell at this distance, his red hair appeared to be natural rather than the result of colored hair gel. Then he looked at her -- and she saw something else. How she could have seen it at such a distance was anyone's guess, but the man at the bus stop had yellow eyes. Bright yellow eyes, like nothing she had ever seen before, that flashed across all that sidewalk and held her, mesmerized, in place...

Unnoticed, a truck had turned the corner at the end of the street that Elizabeth had her back to just a few moments before. Now it came zooming by at a speed that was altogether unsuited to the peaceful quiet of Etheridge Street. "Whoa!" Elizabeth exclaimed, startled, as she stared after it. "Since when does _anyone _come down Etheridge at that speed, let alone a truck?" she wondered aloud, then shook her head. "What a moron." Remembering the red-haired man, she looked back down the street -- but he was gone. Carrie was just turning the corner. Elizabeth stared quizzically, wildly improbable scenarios running through her head -- then shrugged, and started heading down to the bus stop. He had probably continued on his walk, or whatever.

Walking down the street always took too long, but running was too much effort, especially with not only her backpack, but also a tote bag in one hand and her alto saxophone in the other. It made Elizabeth feel like a Clydesdale when she tried: slow, with every step jarring her up to her knees. But she did eventually reach the bus stop. "Hello," she said, waving.

"Hi!" answered the other girl, waving in return. Her dark-skinned face was as happy and energetic as ever. Her glasses and the pencils in her ponytail, combined with her overalls and mint green, moose-covered PJ shirt, created a general impression of oddness.

"Last night everything at the school was canceled," Elizabeth told her friend. "The entire building was evacuated, even the janitors. My dad thinks it was probably a bomb threat. Did you hear anything about it?"

Tacarra hadn't, so they passed the bus ride happily discussing the (nonexistent) possibility that it had not been a bomb threat, but two portals – one to Hyrule, for Elizabeth, and one to Middle Earth, for Carrie – had been discovered. Then they got to the school. Elizabeth peered at the notice on the door -- and stopped, her mouth hanging open in shocked protest.

_"I missed Drama Club!"_ she screeched. It was true. In spite of the evacuation, the drama club rehearsal scheduled for the night before had taken place down the hill at the high school. "I _knew_ I should have checked the door anyway!"

The morning passed as school days usually do: in monotony. Tech. Ed. followed by math – taught by a teacher no one liked or respected – followed by French (wherein the teacher babbled on about things she had already talked about), followed by Health (which was mildly interesting) followed by science, followed by Elizabeth's favorite class: band.

Lost in her own little world, she walked into the band room (which was really too small for their band) and made a beeline for her instrument slot. It wasn't until she was sitting down next to her stand partner and had begun to raise her saxophone to her lips that she looked up at where the band director usually stood -- and jerked back with surprise. Their director wasn't there today; instead, there stood the man from the bus stop earlier that day. Elizabeth wasn't sure why she was so certain of this. But who else could it be? She'd never seen anyone so tall in her life -- which, taking into account her father and his brother, was saying something. Besides, those yellow eyes were unmistakable... they bored into her soul...

A sudden, intensely sharp pain shot through her left hand, snapping her out of it. Gasping, she curled her upper body around the afflicted limb and cradled it in its fellow, aware that she was probably going to bend a lot of keys on her instrument but unable and unwilling to do anything about it.

Then came the sudden sensation of a heavy hand landing on her shoulder. Slowly the pain faded. Elizabeth opened and raised her eyes to her shoulder -- then raised them further, up one massive arm, to a muscle-bound shoulder, and finally to the face of the man from the bus stop.

"If you are done disrupting my class," he said, in a deep, powerful bass. It struck Elizabeth how unfair this comment was. _It's hardly _my_ fault I suddenly developed shooting pains in my left hand!_ Usually, she would have been angry, but as she looked at those burning yellow eyes, all she could feel was fear. Again she found herself bound in place, as surely as if by a chain, as the burning yellow -- somehow underscored by red -- began to fill her field of vision...

Then suddely she had the odd sensation of a warm, wise presence surrounding her and guiding her eyes up to the man's eyebrows instead. The relief was tremendous. But, _No,_ her mind whispered. Somewhere deep down inside, Elizabeth knew that she had to pretend she was still afraid. Everything depended on it, whatever "everything" was. Carefully holding her expression of terror in place, she nodded. The substitute looked at her for a moment more, during which Elizabeth hardly dared to breathe, then moved off towards the conductor's podium.

"I am Mr. Smith," he said to the silent band, all of whom seemed as intimidated as Elizabeth felt. "I will be teaching this class for now, as your band director is... indisposed." the odd, sadistic look on his face sent chills running up Elizabeth's spine. Something about that look warned her against asking, though worry suddenly roiled in her gut. For once, she honestly didn't think her concerns were irrational. "If you will look in your folders, you will find that there is a new piece of music there. Take it out." Obediently folders around the band room opened, Elizabeth's among them. Her eyes -- sea-green today, due to a dark purple shirt -- fell on the piece Mr. Smith had mentioned -- and she gasped, shocked.

**GANONDORF'S THEME**, read the top of the paper, in large block letters.

Her heart pounding in sudden fear, Elizabeth looked slowly up at Mr. Smith (not that she really believed that was his name). He gazed impassively back at her. Quickly, she looked back down, not desiring in the least to be caught by those yellow eyes again.

A flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye caught Elizabeth's attention: her standpartner was raising her hand. Alarmed, she shook her head at the other girl as hard as she could without attracting their substitute's attention, but to no avail.

"Yes?" rumbled Mr. Smith, gazing dispassionately at her.

"Umm, shouldn't we... warm up?" Kristine asked uncertainly, never confident at the best of times. Mr. Smith stared at her in silence for a moment, as Elizabeth held her breath and Kristine herself got increasingly uncomfortable.

"I would like to make one thing clear," he said at last. "While I am teaching this class, when you enter, you will get set up quickly and silently and warm up on your own. There will be no foolish noise-making, no idling, and especially," Elizabeth could see his eyes boring into KP, "_no talking._ You will not waste my time, and when I am ready to begin, you will be ready as well. Tardiness," now he looked at Elizabeth and she froze, though she did not look into his eyes, "will also not be tolerated." Her eyes widened. _How does he know? _she wondered. Elizabeth was probably the one person in the room at that moment who was most prone to lateness, but she had been on time today. _How can he possibly know...?_ Then he looked away, and as panic faded, reality kicked in. _He's a teacher. He probably looked at the attendance records or something. _Without knowing why, she took for granted the fact that Mr. Smith knew her name. Why wouldn't he?

The baton came up, and they began to play. Elizabeth cringed inside at the trumpets' usual unnecessary volume. _Just for today, they couldn't underplay a bit...?_ The baton waved in a circle, cutting them off. Elizabeth jerked away from the mouthpiece immediately, all her nerves on high alert, but the majority of the band played on heedlessly as they would have for any other director. Mr. Smith's eyes flashed with rage. Somehow he drew himself up to a greater height than should have been possible, and though the lights remained on, somehow the room seemed a little darker than before. Elizabeth's mouth went dry with terror. The band stopped playing. For a moment no one made a sound, as the room slowly went back to normal. Then, finally, Mr. Smith spoke:

"You are musicians, are you not?" He was looking at the trumpets. The rest of the band breathed a sigh of relief. "The marking on this page says _piano._ If you cannot follow such simple instructions," he smirked, "then feel free to leave." Suddenly, Elizabeth felt a sudden surge of hatred towards the man. She wasn't very fond of the band's immense number of trumpets herself, but something about that smirk and the way he said that struck a dischordant note in her soul.

He raised the baton again.

Ordinarily, the band let out a few minutes early to give the students time to pack their instruments. Mr. Smith was not ordinary. It was only when the bell rang that they were allowed to leave. With a sigh of relief, Elizabeth fled to her instrument slot while KP (who had her case with her) took care of the folder. With shaking fingers she slammed her saxophone into its case as fast as she could with complete disregard for the delicate nature of its keys. Shoving her instrument back into its slot, she bolted for the door.

Outside the band room, Elizabeth leaned tremblingly against the wall and reached up to wipe the sweat off her forehead, immensely glad that she had lunch next. She didn't have to rush off to any more classes.

"Elizabeth, are you okay?" KP asked, concerned. Elizabeth opened her eyes, trying to remember just when she had closed them.

"Y-yeah," Elizabeth answered, smiling weakly at the other girl. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You look really pale."

"I'm fine," Elizabeth repeated. "Just... a little scared."

"Yeah, that Mr. Smith guy was kind of freaky," KP agreed. "It was kind of nice having a good rehearsal for once, though..."

Elizabeth shook her head. "Too high a price," she murmured quietly, only half knowing what she was talking about.

"Huh?" KP asked. Elizabeth blinked.

"Nothing," she replied. "I'm fine. I think I'll go to lunch now. See ya!" With that, she hurried off down the hall, leaving KP and the people she'd been walking with staring after her in confusion. As she entered the last of the four lunchlines, she realized that she probably wasn't going to sleep well that night.

_She was floating in an endless expanse of white, so bright she had to close her eyes against it. Somewhere far off, some sort of woodwind was playing. The melody was somber, yet beautiful, and though she felt as though she should recognize it, perhaps the mind is less apt at these things while asleep..._

Elizabeth sat bolt upright in bed with a gasp, her eyes wide open. She had the unshakable feeling that something had just happened to her, something big. Momentous, even. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember what it was...

Then, as she sat wondering, the alarm rang.

And for once, she got up.

A/N: Heehee, I'm evil. Adding in chapters between Earth and Hyrule that actually have useful information so that you have to read them. D Just so you know, I don't live on a street called Etheridge. I'm being careful about keeping my location a secret. :looks around suspiciously: Stay back! I'll sic the Great Invisible Purple Unicorn on you! Actually, a lot of stuff in these next however many chapters isn't exactly like how my life went back then, but I'm taking poetic license with my own past. :)


	3. Behind the Scenes

A/N: Ookay, don't expect me to make a habit out of this. I have to get these next couple of chapters up NOW or else anyone who starts reading now despite my warning will be very, very confused. So here goes.

Still don't own Zelda.

Behind the Scenes  


Mr. Smith – or, more accurately, Ganon – watched the girl rush from the room with narrowed eyes. There was no doubt about it: she was the one. The one those foolish brats were looking for. The one who could possibly turn the tide of battle…

If he allowed that to happen.

He'd been fairly certain it was her that morning at the place where the strange yellow vehicle stopped, but the way she had reacted at the beginning of rehearsal – clutching her left hand, of all things – confirmed it, along with that bratty princess's presence, guiding her out of his spell. Yes, he most certainly had noticed; the girl really wasn't very good at hiding her emotions. The moment her expression took on that frozen, maybe slightly exaggerated quality he'd know that he'd lost her.

He drew and released a breath in a barely-perceptible sigh and turned away. Ahh, well. It didn't really matter anyway. Eventually she would join him, because if she didn't...

Well. If she didn't, she would die. He smirked humorlessly as with one enourmous hand he closed his director's score. After all, if she truly was the Fourth, she couldn't be allowed to run amok. It would disrupt his plans, and spell doom for all who depended on them. His gaze hardened as he thought of his people, banished to a live of thirst and starvation, deprived of the resources Hyrule held in plenty. For so long, their average life expectancy had been much shorter than that of any other race. So many had been lost to the cruelties of the land that reigned over their lives in flame-fisted tyranny. It wasn't right, and he wasn't having any more of it.

No longer would the Gerudo burn to death in that thrice-forsaken desert.

Not a single one.

* * *

Princess Zelda jerked back with a gasp, her violet eyes flying open. Slowly, she let loose a long, shuddering breath of relief and, setting aside her scrying-mirror, slouched into a position that was utterly unsuited to a princess. It didn't matter. No one could see her here. Even the guards were positioned so that although she was not unprotected (Nayru forbid that she should ever have to _use_ the skills she had spent seven years accumulating) she felt as though she had some measure of privacy. After all, they couldn't smother her _everywhere_ and expect her to remain sane. 

...Just most places.

With a stretch and another sigh, Zelda stood from the simple-yet-elegant stone bench upon which she sat, her thoughts coming back to what she had been doing, shut up in her garden all alone. _That was close._ The first time Ganon had caught the girl (names in their world were impossible, her own being the only one she recognized) it had been sheerest luck that had freed E-something from his spell as the big ugly _thing_ startled her out of it. The second time, it had been her own reaction to Ganon, and the third, Zelda had been forced to fling her mind _through _the scrying glass into their world to help the girl escape. There was no doubt about it; she was the one. The Fourth. The way she had reacted when she met the Gerudo king -- clutching her left hand, of all things -- confirmed it, not that Zelda had had any doubts in the first place. She had seen the girl's face in her dreams, and when the Goddesses told her something it was true, no matter where that truth led. _Besides,_ Zelda thought suddenly with a grin, _she wears blue. I like purple. It's too ironic not to be Their doing._

"Any luck?" asked a familiar voice near the entrance of the garden. Zelda turned away from the rosebush she was examining. Link stood on the bridge across the small, decorative stream that ran through here, leaning against its barrier. Looking at him in his green Kokiri garb, the princess realized with a pang that today he also wore the trappings of war, the sunlight glinting off the blue hilt of the Master Sword poking over his shoulder and the gold of the gauntlets on his arms. Noticing the look on her face, the Hero of Time laughed. "Aww, don't look at me that way, sis," he said teasingly. There wasn't any real reason beyond their obvious physical resemblance to believe the two were related, but Link figured the Triforce made it close enough. "I'm training today."

"I know," Zelda said with a sigh, tucking a strand of golden hair behind one of her pointed ears. "I just can't help but wonder how often in the near future, you'll be wearing those things for something other than training."

"I don't know," Link said with a shrug, moving from his position on the bridge to one closer to the princess. "No one really does." No response. "Hey," he said, punching her lightly on the shoulder (he had to take off the Golden Gauntlets first so that he wouldn't wind up accidentally flattening her), "we've been over this. I could have said 'no' to this whole Hero of Time thing at any time. I didn't. I found the Stones, I went to the Temple, I went to all the other Temples, I fought Ganon. I could have just gone home at pretty much any time, but I didn't. I signed up for this, and if keeping Hyrule safe means that I have to fight things every now and again..." another shrug. "...well, everything has a price. Besides," he added with a grin, "Malon would kill me if I tried to shirk now. She's big on responsibility."

Zelda smiled at him. "I guess you're right," she said.

"Of course I'm right," Link answered lightly. "This _is_ me we're talking about."

The princess laughed. "You're so _modest_, Link."

"Always," the hero answered with a grin, his blue eyes sparkling with laughter. "So," he said as they continued through the garden, "as I was saying: any luck?"

Zelda sighed. "I have good news and bad news," she told him. "The good news is, I've found her."

"That's very good!" Link exclaimed brightly.

"The bad news is, so has Ganon. And he's already there."

"She's okay, though, right?" Link asked in alarm. "I mean, he hasn't kidnapped her yet or anything, has he?"

"He tried," Zelda said. "Luck prevented him the first two times, and then I had to intervene. However," she added, just as Link opened his mouth, "he has his ugly little claws in her a little too deeply for me to be comfortable bringing her here just yet. He posed as a music teacher."

Link's eyes widened, and he swore under his breath. "That's...really bad, Zelda," he said, his hand going to his item pouch. Zelda knew he was thinking of the power of song as it had been demonstrated to him over the course of his quest.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," she answered, rolling her eyes. "What with the whole me-as-Shiek-teaching-you-magic-songs thing, I would never have known without your amazing observational skills."

"So what are we going to do?" the hero asked, ignoring her wisecrack. Zelda sighed, rubbing her temples with the thumb and forefinger of her right hand.

"I think," she said, "what we're going to have to do is beat him at his own game. We have to send someone in to pose as a music teacher. But there are a couple of problems."

"Such as...?" Link prompted.

"Well, first of all," Zelda said, "all the people over in that world have small, rounded ears. The only person I know with ears like that is Nabooru, and you know she's not big on music." Link winced and nodded, remembering when Malon had attempted to teach the thief-queen to sing. It hadn't been pretty. "Second of all," the princess continued, "even if we somehow managed to overcome that obstacle, from what I've managed to gather, the school the Fourth attends has three main music groups: one with wind instruments, one with strings, and one choir. She isn't in the string group, and Ganondorf already has the winds. None of the Sages can sing, Link. Not a single one."

Link's brow furrowed. "Does it have to be a Sage?"

"Well...no," Zelda answered, surprised. "I suppose as long as the person is clearly instructed in what to do... but why?"

Link hesitated for a moment, running a hand through his blond bangs, as if unsure whether or not he really wanted to do this. Zelda wondered irrelevantly how it was he managed to keep from knocking his silly green hat off. Finally he spoke: "I know someone who sings."

* * *

A/N: Whee! One of my longest chapters ever, and it's not even in the original version. I think it's pretty dang good, myself, but y'all will have to just review and let me know. :) 'Til next time!  



	4. Epona's Song

A/N: Nothing much to say this time except to my one (one!) reviewer: thank you for reviewing, and reading, and although I realize I shouldn't jump to conclusions, I'm sure you can see how I could have come to that one. Eye of Truth, Seeing Truth, girl goes to Hyrule, girl goes to Hyrule... Not to mention the Taliba thing. But it's all fanfiction anyway, it doesn't matter. :) And now, the story continues! Still don't own Zelda, also don't own Epona's Song, which was written by Koji Kondo. Want to know what the words mean? Look up Epona's Song lyrics on google, you'll find 'em.

Epona's Song

Elizabeth gasped and ducked back. Heart pounding, she peered carefully around the corner. _Please don't let him see me, _she prayed. _Please, whoever's up there that loves me, _don't_ let him see me..._ He was facing the other way. Elizabeth began to thank her lucky stars, but then she saw where he was going. _Oh, not the choir room..._ she moaned silently. _That's where _I_ have to go!_ For a moment she stood and debated what to do. The bell was going to ring in a moment; was it really worth being late to avoid him? _Yes..._ whispered part of her, but a bigger part said no. Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth steeled herself and, turning the corner, began to walk down the hall.

The choir room was entered by an antechamber with a wheelchair ramp leading up to the choir room itself. Wishing as she usually did that there was a way to avoid this silly maze (the rail was too high for her to jump), Elizabeth wandered about halfway up before she stopped. Through the window next to the door, the girl could see Mr. Smith, but the person he stood facing was not Ms. Fullerton. It was another substitute, a young woman with long red hair, the biggest, coolest, most anime-ish cowlick Elizabeth had _ever_ seen, and a look of rage and -- Elizabeth blinked -- _terror_ in her vibrant blue eyes as she and Mr. Smith argued over something. Unable to resist, she went over to the door and, putting her ear against it, listened:

"...their champion this time, the one upon whom all their petty little hopes are placed. A little ranch girl." Elizabeth felt her hackles rise at the irritating, condescending tone of Mr. Smith's voice. "Ordinarily, this would be the point where I said something about how the mighty have fallen, but, well, their first hero was a little forest boy. You can see how I wouldn't really be all that surprised at this turn of events." Elizabeth's eyebrows were up in her biggest 'I-have-no-idea-what's-going-on-here' expression. _Forest boy...?_ But her mind stubbornly refused to give in. _It's not possible. I'm not falling for this again! _"Speaking of whom," the intimidating band substitute went on, "I wonder why it isn't he that is here today, and not you. Is it possible that everyone's favorite hero has been replaced!" The sarcastic shock in his voice irked Elizabeth, despite the fact that she had no idea what the two were talking about.

"No one will _ever_ replace Link!" this voice was new, female, and defiant. The other sub. Elizabeth's mind was reeling at something else, though. _L... No. It's a coincidence. This... isn't... possible!_ She shook her head fiercely.

"No," she whispered, barely audible even to herself.

"And you," the choir substitute continued, even as Elizabeth battled with herself, "will never succeed. _Never!_ I... I won't let you!"

Heavy footsteps, followed by a terrified gasp. "And just how do you propose to stop me?" Mr. Smith was practically snarling. Elizabeth was just glad she couldn't see his face. In spite of all her daydreams in which she boldly assaulted some villain or other and somehow managed to save the day, all Elizabeth could do at that moment was sit like a frightened rabbit at the door and listen. "I will admit, I underestimated the brats last time around. But not this time. This time, I'll be ready. And no one --not you, not the Sages, not even that little brat of a hero -- _no one_ will stand in my way!" There was the sound of something (or someone, Elizabeth realized with a shock) hitting the ground, and then footsteps headed towards the door Elizabeth currently had her ear against. With a gasp she lurched away from it and did what she had never done before: leaving behind her tote bag, she scrambled over the guard rail on the ramp and landed in front of the door into the antechamber just as the door to the choir room itself opened and Mr. Smith came out.

For a moment the two stared at each other as Elizabeth prayed that he wouldn't notice her tote bag sitting in the corner; then the moment passed. At a speed that belied his immense size, Mr. Smith started down the ramp. Quickly Elizabeth scrambled away from the door and, pressing herself back against the railing, waited for him to leave. When he did so, it was as if a thundercloud had lifted. Elizabeth let loose a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Proceeding up the wheelchair ramp, she picked up her tote bag from its abandoned position and entered the choir room.

The room was completely empty, with the sole exception of the choir substitute, who was currently picking herself up off the floor. Elizabeth felt a flash of rage towards Mr. Smith, who was probably back in the band room by now. She fidgeted in place uncomfortably. "Uhh... is there chorus today?" she asked, looking around at the empty choir room. Elizabeth was _never_ the first one to choir.

Malon had to restrain her laughter at the sight in front of her. As she stood there shifting her weight from foot to foot uncertainly, the girl Malon had been sent to find looked exactly as Link had when the farmgirl first met him, in the marketplace so long ago. In spite of her little encounter with the King of Evil, Malon felt uplifted. Maybe -- just maybe -- inside this shy, insecure young girl there could be found a hero similar to that which had resided in that little Kokiri boy, so many years ago.

"Nope!" she said cheerfully in answer to her young visitor's question. "No chorus. Your usual director wasn't sure who she would get for a substitute, so I guess she didn't want to take any chances." Disappointment registered on the girl's face. "But you can stay if you'd like," Malon added quickly. This was _far_ too good an opportunity to pass up. "Truth be told, I was a little disappointed when I learned that all the choirs were cancelled. I would love to teach _someone_ today!" She beamed.

"All right," the girl said uncertainly. "If it wouldn't bother you..."

"Oh, no, this is wonderful," Malon told her as she began to shift through the pile of papers on the teacher's desk.. "I had a long, boring class period ahead of me, and I wasn't really looking forward to it." She made a face, then smiled. "Well, you can set your bag down if you'd like. My name is Miss Trotter; what's yours?"

"Elizabeth Grass," the girl answered, placing her bag against the wall.

"Any nicknames?" Malon inquired, sincerely hoping that she did have one. There was no way she was going to get _that_ right, with the Z, and the syllables, and the _weird. Where do these people come up with their names, anyway?_

"Usually either Liz or Lizzy. Never Beth," she added. "I am not a Beth. Or anything related to Beth."

"Okay then... Liz," Malon said with a smile. "Shall we get started? Come on over here next to the piano." The ranchgirl headed over to it and sat down. "Now, let's start with some warm-ups." She played a chord and hummed five descending notes. Elizabeth began to copy her, but Malon cut her off, frowning. "Have you ever had voice lessons before?" she asked. Elizabeth shook her head. "Sing a scale for me." The girl obliged. "Did you hear that break in the middle, where you switched registers?"

"Yeah," Liz said with a nod.

"We're going to try and get rid of that," Malon said. "Sing a kind of siren noise for me, like this." She sang a sliding note up from Do to Sol and back down again. "Try and keep it all in the upper register." She played the chord again.

Elizabeth looked dubiously at her teacher, but nodded. No matter how hard she tried, though, she just couldn't get those first notes into her upper register. Miss Trotter frowned. "Okay, let's just try it going down," the teacher said. Elizabeth tried it. It was still hard, but not as hard as before. _At least I'm actually starting on a note I'm used to placing in my upper register..._

Warmups proceeded with... well, quite a bit of difficulty, in fact. Sometimes Elizabeth understood what Miss Trotter told her to do ("Support the sound from your diaphragm") but sometimes the teacher's instructions just made no sense at all to her ("Open up the inside of your mouth -- but don't let the sound go back!"). After what seemed like a thousand "Oooh"'s "Eeee"'s and "Aaaah"'s, Miss Trotter finally sat back.

"Okay," she said. "Let's try a song now. How about... this one!" She handed the music to Elizabeth, who looked at it. Her jaw dropped.

**EPONA'S SONG**, read the cover, in flowing, curly letters. Elizabeth looked up sharply at her teacher. _Now that I think of it, she looks a lot like... _But no. That was impossible. It was a coincidence, that was all. It _had_ to be. Her substitute just happened to like Zelda, that's all. And look like a character from one of the games. And Elizabeth just so happened to be the only one to show up for choir that day...

She shook her head, trying to shake these thoughts out of her head. It wasn't _that_ implausible.

"Something wrong?" Miss Trotter asked, jolting Elizabeth out of her thoughts. She was looking at her student with a concerned expression on her face.

"N-no," Elizabeth answered. "No, I'm fine. Everything's fine." Miss Trotter glanced a little curiously at her, but Elizabeth avoided her eyes. The teacher let it drop.

"So... Those lyrics. I know they're not in English, but do you think that you can pull it off?" Miss Trotter asked. Elizabeth scanned them for a moment.

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "I think I can handle it."

"All right then," Miss Trotter said with a smile. "Let's get started!" Placing her fingers on the key, she began to play the introduction. Elizabeth was surprised at how it sounded on piano. _It sounds kind of nice, in its own way... _Opening her mouth, she began to sing:

_"Epona, Epona, soba ni oide  
Futari de ireba sabishiku nanka nai_

_Dakara Epona koko ni ite  
Omae dake o mamotte ageru."_

She was stumbling in a few places, Elizabeth knew, but overall she was doing okay. The lyrics were very pretty and flowing, and she didn't really have to look at the translation to get a general sense of what they were about.

_"Koushite iru to omoi dasu  
Ano hi no yoake  
Tsuki ga shizumi taiyou to  
Omae ga umareta_

_Epona Epona soba ni oide  
Futari de ireba kanashiku nan ka nai."_

Even though she didn't know exactly what the words meant, for some reason they reminded Elizabeth of her stuffed animals and how they had all acted as her friends whenever she had none. Her vivid imagination had provided them with personalities of their own, so much so that Elizabeth had begun by now to truly think of them as living creatures and not the creation of fabric, stuffing, and her own mind.

_Dakara Epona koko ni ite  
Watashi no uta o kiite ite ne_

_Koushite iru to omoi dasu  
Ano koro no koto  
Omae no tame ni kaazan ga  
Tsukutta kono uta."_

Elizabeth found herself swaying in time to the music as she began to hum, as the music indicated.

_"Hmm.. Hmm..  
Hmm-mm-mmm...  
Futari de ireba kanashiku nan ka nai_

_Hmm.. Hmm..  
Hmm-mm-mmm...  
Wasurenai demo kono uta  
Kono uta..."_

She held onto the note longer than the music indicated before letting it trail off. Miss Trotter finished the song, then sat back, looking at her pupil with a very odd look on her face.

"That one suits you," she said quietly with a small, strange smile. "It suits you very well." Then she snapped out of it. "Now," the teacher said briskly, flipping through her music, "there are a few spots that still need a little work..." They continued to smooth out _Epona's Song_ until the bell rang, at which point Elizabeth gathered up her tote bag and thanked her teacher. She tried to hand the music back, but Miss Trotter told her to keep it.

"Take it home and practice. Study those lyrics, see if you can memorize them. That always helps me," the teacher told her.

"Okay," Elizabeth said, a little awkwardly. She wasn't very good accepting things, whether they be compliments or gifts or anything of that nature. "Thank you." She tucked the music carefully away in her tote bag, hoping that it would be the one thing that didn't get destroyed by being put there. "Bye Miss Trotter," she said, and walked out the door. She went to lunch in a daze, and even though she saw Mr. Smith on the way, even he wasn't scary enough to break through her mood totally. She felt a distant pang of fear, but it passed quickly and then she was off to lunch, singing softly under her breath:

_"Wasurenai demo kono uta  
Kono uta..."_

That night, Elizabeth had another dream.

_She was floating in an endless expanse of white, so bright she had to close her eyes against it. Somewhere far off, some sort of woodwind was playing. The melody was somber, yet beautiful, and though she felt as though she should recognize it, perhaps the mind is less apt at these things while asleep..._

_Am I asleep? she wondered. This experience had that slightly unreal quality about it, but her thoughts were clear and she found when she raised her hand and turned to look at it that she was in complete control of her own actions._

_That was when the darkness came, a tangible thing that wrapped around Elizabeth and tried to pull her in one direction. Some instinct made her limbs thrash against it, and when she realized she was being dragged away from the source of the music, she fought even harder. The same instinct that made her fight told her that she did not want to be taken away from that music._

_Suddenly another song began to mingle with the other one, the notes coming in on the other song's rest. If she listened, Elizabeth could make out words:_

"Epona, Epona, soba ni oide..."

_Getting a sudden idea, Elizabeth began to sing along, projecting her voice into the whiteness:_

"Futari de ireba, sabishiku nan ka nai..."

_The darkness shrank away from the song as if in pain. Breaking free at last, Elizabeth fled in the direction of the music..._

Meanwhile, a bright light flashed in Elizabeth's bedroom. When it faded, a person was standing there, amidst all the mess. The person swore abruptly in a masculine voice, having evidently landed on something that was not fun to land on. Looking around, he located Elizabeth on the top bunk right in front of him and eyed this problem with a frown. This was going to be awkward; he didn't want to _hurt_ her, after all. Spotting a ladder at the end of the bunk, he clambered up it and onto the bed itself, avoiding treading on the girl. So far so good; no sign of the barrier. Carefully he gathered her into his arms. "Got her, Zel," he whispered into the empty darkness, and with another bright flash, Link the Hero of Time vanished, taking the Fourth, a youngest child, and a misfit girl with him out of her home world.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form


	5. Life, Going On

A/N: I'm sorry this chapter is so late coming out. I started it a long time ago, but I think I was going about things the wrong way so I decided to restart. Maybe someday I'll finish that scene and add it in... or maybe I'll just add all the scenes I don't finish at the end of the story, like the deleted scenes in a movie. shrug who knows? But dangit, I'd better start getting some reviews here! It's frustrating not getting any feedback. :P Oh, and in case no one has realized this yet, this story's going to be absolutely packed with spoilers.

Life, Going On  


Elizabeth had slipped into more ordinary dreams by the time the sound of a harp playing brought her awake.

The lift of her eyelids signaled a full return to consciousness, though Elizabeth was not ordinarily among those few for whom this happens. Feeling somewhat surreal, she lifted her torso upright, noticing as she did how unusually soft her mattress was. Pressing one hand down against it, she sought the metal springs that were present in every modern-day mattress, but they weren't there. Looking up, she realized that her surroundings were not those she had gone to sleep in.

Somehow she was not surprised, and nor did this realization alarm her. Perhaps it was the night playing its tricks upon her mind.

Or perhaps it was the harp music played by the figure who sat on the windowsill.

"Hello?" she asked softly, then immediately realized how little her solid, ordinary voice fit in with all this. The music stopped. The figure's head moved, presumably to look at her, and yet whoever it was remained silent. "W-who are you?" she asked, feeling more awkward with every word she spoke. "Where am I?"

For one long moment there was no response. Elizabeth was trying to think of something else to say when the figure spoke, in a resonant voice that came from everywhere and nowhere, all at once. "You know me, but we've never met. I am the son of shadow and the prisoner of the sun. You are the child of another world, come at last to the home you never knew." Elizabeth arched one thick, dark eyebrow, though whether it was at the stranger's melodramatic manner or what he had actually said was a mystery even to her.

"But above all," the man continued, "you are the Fourth, and I..." he drew his fingers across the strings of the golden harp he held, creating a rippling sound, "...am your guide." He stood in one fluid motion that would have made a cat jealous. "Get some rest." He threw something to the ground, resulting in a flash of light. Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut just in time, and when she opened them he was gone. The teenager rolled her eyes.

"Like I couldn't guess where he went," she muttered, and slipped out of the bed to go over and look out the window. But he was gone. She looked in every direction she could think of, even up; after all, in Ocarina of Time Shiek hid from Link in a tree right above the hero's head. He could certainly do that again.

For that was who the stranger was. When she saw the harp Elizabeth began to suspect, but the motion with which he had thrown the object to the floor was unmistakable to her eyes, which had seen the game played so many times.

But how?

_I'm dreaming, _she decided. _I'll wake up and I'll be in my own bed again. There's no way this is real. _Trying to ignore how tangible everything felt, the girl went back over to the bed and slipped underneath the covers again. As she sank into the pillow and and of consciousness, one more thought penetrated Elizabeth's mind: _Besides, there's no way a girl could imitate that kind of a voice..._

_

* * *

_Dreams faded into warm darkness as slowly Elizabeth began to regain consciousness. After a moment her eyes opened, and immediately she knew something was wrong. Her mind still clouded by sleep, she tried to figure out how she could be lying in her bed that things would look like this. Was she facing the wall? Was her head down by the window? ...How could her head be by the window? She never slept that way anymore...

Then it hit her, and she bolted upright in her bed as if someone had shocked her with electricity. Eyes wide, she looked frantically around the room. She was on a large, fluffy (she wasn't sure yet if it was comfortable) bed with a pink-patterned comforter. Straight ahead was a dresser made of some dark wood with a large, elegant mirror over it, and there was a window in the left wall a few feet beyond her bed. The walls themselves were made of what appeared to be large stone blocks and the floor was similar, though there was a thick, red-and-gold oval rug in what was almost but not quite an oriental design beside her bed. Looking directly to her left, Elizabeth saw a small bedside table similar to the dresser with what appeared to be an old-fashioned oil lamp sitting atop it. Her mouth slightly agape, she reached out to touch it, but just before her hand made contact the door set into the right wall opened. She jumped, snatching her hand away as if it had been burned, and stared as a young woman perhaps a couple of years older than her entered.

She appeared to be a maid of some sort, but her clothes... well, they were... _medieval._ She wore a black gathered skirt that fell to just above her knees and black bodice with a simple white blouse, and her wavy, dark brown hair was held back by a white handkerchief. Her shoes were sturdy black clogs (or they looked like clogs to Elizabeth, she didn't really know) and appeared to have seen a good deal of use, though they were still in good shape. The maid jumped a little upon seeing her. "Oh, you're awake!" she exclaimed, and hurried out again, shutting the door behind her.

Elizabeth stared after her. Through her numb shock, all the confused teenager could manage to think was that something was very, very wrong with all this. She didn't even realize at first what she was doing until she was out of the strange, fluffy bed and standing in front of the window, looking out. What she saw made her catch her breath.

The view was everything Elizabeth had ever dreamed of seeing. Green rolling hills stretched out into the distance, interrupted not by the squarish, tacky ugliness of modern civilization as she knew it but only by small, simple brown buildings and not too far away, a simple stone wall.The sun was just rising, bathing the world -- wherever in it she was -- in a soft pink glow and painting the sky a cotton-candy combination of blue and pink that looked like something a professional photographer would take a picture of. She could see deep green forests just barely poking out from beyond the hills, and when she looked down there was something very familiar about the castle grounds with their yellow bushes and flowers. _Come to think of it, those hills... I know their shapes..._ Then she caught the thought trying to slip into her mind. _No, no, no,_ Elizabeth told herself. _It's not possible._

But what if it was...?

Just as this whisper, this barest echo of an idea ricocheted against the walls of Elizabeth's mind, the door to her room opened. With a gasp, she whirled to face it, clutching the windowsill behind her with both hands. "Wh-who are you?" was the reflexive question that flew out of her mouth before her eyes took in the young man standing there.

Floppy, pointed green hat. Matching tunic. Chillingly familiar blue sword hilt peeking out over his shoulder.

As she took in these things, Elizabeth found herself unwilling to look at his face. There was no way this could be happening, there was just no way...

And then he spoke. "Well, um..."

It was then that Elizabeth knew. She didn't know how or why, she just immediately understood that this was real. She wasn't dreaming. It had happened. Without thinking her mouth opened and she said in a shocked, almost-whisper: "I've never been to Kansas before, but I'm pretty sure that's not where I am right now..."

* * *

It felt like a bare moment later that Elizabeth was sitting cross-legged on her bed, staring with wide eyes at the two figures standing in front of her. She could never have imagined this moment before it happened, even if she had tried. It was like meeting a celebrity, only ten times worse -- better? -- because celebrities have one thing going for them that most video game characters do not. 

They exist.

And yet here they were, the Hero of Time and the Princess of Destiny, standing in front of her as plain as day. Living. Breathing. Apparently solid (Elizabeth hadn't the nerve to just reach out and touch either one; that would have been a little weird). Staring at her with solemn expressions on their face, much like the game but so full of life that for the first time the figures Elizabeth had watched on their adventures for so long really did seem like glowing dots on a screen. False. Nothing.

And then as she stared at the two people standing in front of her, Elizabeth realized suddenly that maybe this wasn't so fantastic after all. All of her daydreams about coming to Hyrule involved her suddenly becoming brave and outgoing, and everyone loving and understanding her. But these were real people, pointed ears notwithstanding (though she found herself staring at them a lot), and to Elizabeth, real people were scary people. Real people were unpredictable, and you never knew what they were going to do next. How they would react. The worst part was that they usually seemed to feel the same way about you.

This wasn't going to be the answer to her prayers, hopes and dreams. It was just life. Going on.

Somehow this realization made Elizabeth want to cry.

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry if some of this is so disjointed, and I'm also sorry for the abrupt cutoff, but I've been trying to get this chapter done forages. I had to scrap a huge scene involving the Chamber of Sages, and how Link, Malon, and the Sages brought Elizabeth to Hyrule because it was going nowhere. I really liked it, too... :( Oh well. Such is the life of an author. 

Hope you enjoyed this, there might not be more coming for a while whatwith school starting up and everything... heck, I should be doing my homework right now.


	6. Preoccupation and Pantaloons

A/N: I'm so sorry! My life has been incredibly busy lately. Marching band was taking up almost all of my time and the rest was taken up by dance and various little clubs I'm in! Not to mention I have homework to do, and voice, guitar, and saxophone stuff to practice. But marching band's over and I didn't make it into the musical, though I will probably be in the (less time-consuming) pit orchestra, so things are looking up now. Hopefully you won't have to wait quite as long for the next chapter. BTW, sorry for any guys who may not want to hear about feminine undergarments, medieval or no, but I do intend to include some practical stuff about how life in Hyrule would be different than life on Earth. Besides, it's underwear. Get over it.

Longest chapter yet! I hope it's worth the wait, but I have a sinking feeling it's really not. Sorry:\

Preoccupation and Pantaloons

Elizabeth sat in her open window, enjoying the unique sensation that comes along with having one's feet danging over yards upon yards of nothing but air. The sun was rising, causing pink to spread and fade like watercolors when more water is added. Elizabeth noted with a certain amount of amusement how much smaller it was in reality than in the game.

It was about the only thing she found even remotely entertaining about the situation. She was in an imaginary land and didn't know how. She also didn't know how she knew she wasn't hallucinating. She knew why she was... where she was, but that wasn't any more comforting. In fact, it downright terrified her.

The most terrible person ever to walk this new (well, to her) realm was supposed to be locked up. But he wasn't. Worse, no one knew how he'd gotten out.

How. How, how, how. It was the word of the day, week, month, or however long this had been going on and was going to take.

The situation went beyond crying. Elizabeth was in shock, her mind so deeply mired in chaos that she couldn't find room in her thoughts to express any kind of emotion. Her lack of any kind of response to anything they said was probably the reason for which Link and Zelda had decided not too long ago to leave her to her own devices. Elizabeth would have felt bad about this, but she just... couldn't.

She didn't know what she'd express at the moment, anyway. Mostly the teen just didn't believe this was happening. She didn't understand why, either -- why these people needed any help, why they wouldn't pick someone stronger, someone more capable. But there was a prt of her that was excited about all this, and glad they _had_ chosen her. It was Hyrule. She'd been dreaming of this for so long...

But then she remembered everyone she'd left behind, all the people wh cared about her and for whom she cared a great deal in return, and felt guilty. Elizabeth knew they were probably tearing apart the world looking for her -- a world in which she could no longer be found.

She loved them. She missed them. And now Elizabeth felt horrible for ever having wanted something like this to happen, to leave the world they lived in.

Elizabeth was also terrified. One of the few things that Link and Zelda spoke of that penetrated her mind had been Ganon. Big, scary, lightning-shooting Ganon, who seemed to have gotten some of his ideas from _Transformers. _When her older siblings had played Ocarina of Time many years ago, Elizabeth had been there watching as they died repeatedly against him.

No one sane would not fear to meet this man. No one. _I'm not strong enough,_ Elizabeth thought desperately. _No way am I strong enough to do this._

She couldn't think about this anymore. Lifting her legs and turning to put them on the floor of her room, Elizabeth stood and, mindless of her (in this world) strange attire -- soft, loose blue pants that draped down from her hips to puddle around her feet and a light blue T-shirt -- she padded across to the door and left.

The hallways were made of gray stone in typical castle fashion, albeit probably the lightest gray they'd been able to find. On the walls between the torches in their sconces hung vivid tapestries. Elizabeth took the time to look at a few of them. Some depicted scenes she was unfamiliar with; many were of the Triforce and/or Goddesses. One, however, showed two figures she recognized: Link and Ganon, in his final form. Flames formed the border, and Link seemed impossibly small as he stood, shield raised and Master Sword gleaming, to oppose the scaly, titanic nightmare in front of him. Elizabeth found her gaze pulled to the monster himself. His eyes were the same burning yellow as Mr. Smith's, and Elizabeth wondered how she'd managed to fool herself into thinking that the two were not one and the same.

Those eyes were harmless in tapestry form, but they reminded her of their real counterpart. Elizabeth shuddered, thinking of the unpleasant sensation of having someone stare into her soul like that. Without even realizing it at first, she reached out to touch the beast. The softness of the tapestry, in direct contradiction of the fearsome image it showed, was reassuring. _Only a picture._

"What are you doing?" Elizabeth gasped and whirled. A few feet down the hall, a figure that it would be impossible not to recognize as Impa stood. She wore a purple bodysuit in the Shiekan style, but abbreviated. The leggings covered only her thighs, and the sleeves stopped at most a quarter of the way down her arms. Embroidered on her chest in silver was a single eye staring ahead with a perfectly-shaped tear falling from it. For armor she wore only a breastplate, molded to fit her upper body and designed not to impede her movement; however, her hardened visage and well-defined muscles made it clear that she needed nothing more. She had a silver tattoo under each eye, each one with three spikes facing down from her bottom eyelid. Her boots were made of a thin, soft cloth and clearly made more to aid her in stealth than anything else, and upon her arms she wore simple black arm-guards like those an archer would wear. The only visible weapon she bore was the long dagger sheathed horizontally across her back, an open challenge to all who opposed her. Red eyes stared at Elizabeth, hard and unreadable -- especially to a social cripple like herself.

"I was just looking at the tapestry." Her voice was a croak, the way it sometimes got whenever she'd been so silent and lost in thought for so long she'd grown mildly unaccustomed to speech. She cleared her throat.

Impa gave a "hmm" that, to Elizabeth's ears, sounded disapproving. The teen tried not to fidget, but it was hard under that appraising ruby stare. Finally the woman spoke. "Your attire would pass, were we among my people. However, we are not." She turned and began to walk down the hallway, saying over her shoulder, "Come." Intimidated, Elizabeth obeyed.

Elizabeth had never been measured by a seamstress before, and found it an uncomfortable experience. The short, plump seamstress, however, was so no-nonsense that she suffered through it in silence and without _too_ much embarrassment while Impa looked on. Finally she found herself being shoved towards a wooden screen with an armful of cloth while the seamstress instructed, "Now take off all those things you're wearing now _including _any undergarments and put these on." Elizabeth opened her mouth to protest but the seamstress plowed on: "I've given you a corset that laces up the front. Put that on _under _the shirt and tie it firmly, but not too tight or it will crush your ribcage. Some of these young ladies... well, never mind. Skirt goes on over the pantaloons, but of course you know that, how else would it work? Tuck the shirt into the skirt, and then put the belt on. Oh, and brush your hair." Elizabeth was handed a polished wooden comb. Blushing and completely overwhelmed, she headed obediently towards the screen and began.

It was a long time before Elizabeth emerged fully clad, uncomfortable-looking and clutching her old clothes in both hands. The new outfit wasn't so bad, but it was... different. She was wearing pantaloons, for one thing. And a corset. The pantaloons were nothing big. They went to her knees and were only the slightest bit loose. The corset was a little like a bra, only... well, it was a corset. Actually it reminded Elizabeth a little bit of the vest from her marching band uniform, which was depressing for a number of reasons: firstly, those things got cursed uncomfortable after a while, and secondly she was probably never going to see her marching band uniform again.

Elizabeth shied away from the thought. Marching band was one of the best things that had ever happened to the teen. Disney World and New York City flashed briefly through her mind, followed by band cheers at competitions and being picked on for blunders like wearing electric blue underwear under the white uniform pants when they were supposed to wear white. Her gut twinged painfully, and she pushed the thoughts away. Later. She would cry later.

The outfit was actually rather nice. The skirt was dark blue and made of a fairly common material that Elizabeth -- being somewhat fabric-illiterate -- couldn't identify. The blouse, on the other hand, she was pretty sure was made of cotton. It was light blue and very lightweight. The neck was fairly open, though Elizabeth had pulled it closed as much as she could before it started to look stupid. The sleeves were long and loose, with drawstrings at the ends and slits above the shoulder. There were geometric patterns in light gray around the hems of both skirt and blouse. Her hair, which she'd gotten cut the last afternoon she'd been awake for, was now neatly combed (or as neatly combed as it ever was, anyway) and hung to the name of her neck in back and to just below her eyebrows in front. It looked nice, but it was an annoying length: long enough to fall in her eyes, but too short to tuck behind her ears. The belt around her waist was made of dark leather with a triforce symbol arranged around each hole and placed at a similar interval all the way around.

She zoned back in on the present. Impa's expression was unreadable, as usual, but the seamstress was looking her over and making small tutting noises. "They don't quite fit," the woman muttered. "Still, they'll have to do until something more suitable can be made. Come here and we'll find your foot measurements." Elizabeth moved obediently over to her and extended her foot so that the tape measure could be wrapped around it. "We'll be getting you a few pairs of slippers and a pair of good, sturdy boots -- you're no court flower after all, and if the rumors are true you've got a great deal ahead of you." The seamstress stood and went over to a set of shelves on the wall, all containing shoes of a wide variety. She selected from them a pair of simple, slipper-like shoes made of a dark leather that matched her belt. They reminded Elizabeth of something a dancer would wear -- not ballet slippers, though. Jazz shoes? Yes, that was it. They reminded her of jazz shoes. She sat down to put them on.

"Now," the seamstress said as she did so, "I'll just take these away --" She reached out for Elizabeth's old clothes. Elizabeth felt a thrill of alarm and reached out to snatch them away.

"No!" the teen stated, perhaps a little too loudly. "I want to keep them." She glared a little at the seamstress. She didn't really mean to, it was just... those clothes were her last connection to her home world. Without them, she could have just made it all up. There was no way of telling. Elizabeth turned her glare on Impa, daring the Sheikah to comment. The older woman raised her eyebrow, but declined to do so.

"Very well," the seamstress said, shrugging. Clearly she'd been taken by surprise by Elizabeth's reaction. "I only meant to take them out of your way." She regained control of the situation. "Now then, come back in a few days and the clothes at least should be done. The shoes might be as well. We'll see. Now shoo, I've work to do!" The woman started shooing Elizabeth towards the door.

"Um, you don't really need to custom-make my shoes for me," Elizabeth said, blushing. She was used to mass-production, which meant almost no one's clothes fit perfectly. "These fit fine."

"Oh, nonsense, of course you need better shoes than that. Go on now, I'll see you in a couple of days!" And then suddenly Elizabeth wasstanding in front of a closed door, blinking and somewhat dazed. Somehow she felt more normal than before, though. _Maybe being forced to interact with... um..._ Her thought-process stumbled for a moment. _...the real world, I guess it is, was a good thing._

"Come," Impa said, and set off down the hall. Elizabeth hurried to catch up.

_Even if I am wearing pantaloons._


	7. Matters of the Mind

A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay. I got a really nasty case of writer's block. I'm also sorry for how short this is, but at least I got it up.

Matters of the Mind

_Storm clouds crept up from the north, east, and southwest, crackling with electricity. From the north, the lightning was tinged faintly blue; from the east, it was green, and from the southwest it came vaguely red. From these three directions the clouds came rushing in, and over Hyrule they crashed together. Lightning flashed from cloud to cloud, and in their feuding the three storms set fire to the land of Hyrule, destroying it, tearing it apart..._

Elizabeth awoke with a gasp to find herself looking up into Impa's worried face. Already unnerved by the dream, it frightened her even more that she had found a situation in which the stoic warrior would show emotion -- especially that one in particular. "Wh-what happened?" the teen asked, trying to ignore the unpleasant twinge of fear in her gut.

"You fainted," Impa answered. "Was it a vision?" Her voice was grim.

"I... guess," Elizabeth said uncertainly, beginning to sit up. "Whoa!" A wave of dizziness struck, sending the world spinning out of sight. Remembering what her brother had told her to do in this sort of situation, she pressed down on her stomach with the hand that wasn't currently propping her torso up off the ground.

"Are you feeling all right?" Impa asked, concerned. Elizabeth felt a hand appear on her upper back.

"Yeah, I'm just dizzy." The disorientation was fading, and in its place Elizabeth's sight returned. "Pressing on your stomach helps," she explained.

"I see." The Shiekah rose. "Come, we must speak to Queen Zelda." She extended a tough, sinewy hand to Elizabeth.

"Don't you want to know what I saw?" the girl asked, taking hold of it and pulling herself up. She hurried off after the older woman, who had already set off.

"You may tell us all when we arrive."

"Us, as in...?" Elizabeth pressed, though she thought she knew the answer. Impa stopped and turned to face her.

"Look, child--" Elizabeth's face snapped into a scowl at this reference to her age, which really wasn't all that diminutive "--your questions will be answered in due time. I do not have time to explain at the moment. All I ask is that you come with me as quickly as possible so that preparations may begin." Impa turned back around and kept walking. As Elizabeth hurriedly followed, she had to bite her lip to keep from asking: _Preparations for what?_

_

* * *

_

A lone platform floated in a vast expanse of nothingness. Water that didn't seem to have an origin swirled about it, bluer than any water in the mortal realms, and spilled over the edges into the abyss below. Arranged in a circle amidst these fantastic currents stood six multicolored, circular, medallion-like platforms, each about three feet in diameter and each bearing both a different design...

And a completely different person.

The yellow one held an aging yet clearly powerful Hylian man, clad in heavy orange and red robes. A thick white moustache and thick white eyebrows sat upon a face that seemed permanently set in an expression of severity and seriousness. _Rauru,_ Elizabeth realized, mouthing the name soundlessly as it entered her mind.

To his right, upon the green medallion, stood a young girl clad in a simple forest green tunic, probably no older than ten. Her young face, framed by short-cropped green hair, was filled with both aged serenity and a childish liveliness that shone in her sparkling emerald eyes. _Saria._

The person next to her on the red medallion was more like a giant yellow boulder than anything else - a Goron. His face was surrounded by a wild gray mane, and on his face below his small black eyes on each side were two little white streaks, most likely tattoos. On his left arm, all over which veins stood out starkly against the powerful muscles, was a black tattoo consisting of a diamond with three triangles over it -- one over either of the two top sides, and one above its point. His expression was fierce and strong, as though daring the world to do its worst. _Darunia._

Then came the blue medallion, and with it the strangest person yet. This individual was a member of that species known as the Zoras, a creature that resembled humans but with distinctly fish-like qualities. Most of the anatomy was similar to human structure (including the parts that only females get), but there were a few key differences. For instance, the head was oddly triangular above the face where the hair should be (in fact something like a hairline was denoted by a change in color from light blue to dark green) and a set of long, graceful fins in different shades of green and blue sprang from the forearms and the waist in back. The toes were webbed, though the fingers stood as individual digits, and almost everything was covered in a slick, shiny, light blue skin. Adorning her ears were a pair of black, diamond-shaped earrings. _Ruto. _Elizabeth fought the urge to stare and moved her gaze to the purple medallion. There stood Impa, with whom the teen was already familiar. She moved on.

The woman standing on the orange medallion was dressed in clothes clearly intended mainly to withstand intense heat like that of the Gerudo desert. Loose white pants hung from a golden waistband set low on her hips and were secured around her ankles. Upon said waistband sat a brilliantly orange fire opal, and its match stood atop her head to mark the beginning of her vibrant red ponytail. A multitude of thin gold bands encircled said ponytail, along with the woman's neck and arms. Delicate gold hoops also adorned both ears -- which, unlike the long and pointed ears of all the other humanoids present, were small and rounded. A simple white piece of cloth patterned with geometric shapes was wrapped around her chest, leaving her copper-toned stomach exposed. Her pointed, delicate face held an expression of intense concentration, as she stood, feet braced and arms crossed in a cocky, challenging stance. _Nabooru._ Ruler of the desert people.

And directly in the center, on a gold medallion with a Triforce on it, stood Elizabeth, turning in a slow circle as she stared at them.

They looked almost exactly the same way they did in the game. It was unnerving. _Am I inside the game,_ Elizabeth wondered, _or is this some kind of alternate universe? _Looking around, she found herself a fan of the second option. These were not video game characters. These were people -- living, breathing people. _But how did Miyamoto find out, then? _It wasn't as if it really mattered, but...

"So are we going to find out what this is all about, or are we just going to stand here all day?" Elizabeth jumped, startled at this interruption to her thoughts -- then flushed, stung both by the words and the tone of voice in which they were said. She turned to see Nabooru looking expectantly at her.

The words came out before she could stop them: "Well I'm _sorry_ if none of this is like anything I've ever actually encountered before," she snapped. "It's not like you'd do better if you suddenly found yourself in _my_ world and had to attend a meeting of Congress or something."

"Peace!" The voice was like a bell, powerful and commanding. "We have much to speak of, and little time for it." Though she still seethed, Elizabeth turned to him with the same obedience she would have shown one of her teachers back home. "Now," he continued, "tell us what you saw."

"Um..." shaking her head, Elizabeth started to organize her thoughts in such a way that she could coherently describe the vision. But then, the strangest thing happened. A moment ago, the vision had been right there in her mind's eye, clear as the image on a plasma-screen TV. but now, she couldn't remember any of it. She remembered having it, and she remembered remembering it, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't recall exactly what the dream was about. "I..." she furrowed her brow, confused -- and at this point, a little frustrated. "I... don't remember." The Chamber erupted in an incoherent babble.

"Are you sure?"

"Maybe it's a sign."

"Ugh, typical."

"I don't like this."

"Do you think this is a _joke?_" Stung once again, Elizabeth turned to retort to this remark (it was, unsurprisingly, from Nabooru), but then Rauru spoke:

"Calm yourselves!" The Chamber fell silent, and Elizabeth took this opportunity to speak.

"I'm not lying, I swear to -- I swear!" she cried, tripped up by the religious reference she almost made. Who _was_ she supposed to swear to now, anyway? "I know this is serious. I'm not an idiot, in spite of what _some_ of you seem to think." Here she turned a particularly fierce glare on Nabooru, "I seriously _do not remember._" The Sages let out a collective sigh.

"Then there is nothing more we can do at the moment," Rauru said heavily. "We will reconvene at the royal castle as soon as all those present can be certain their various responsibilities can be taken care of while they're gone. Perhaps Link or the Princess can shed some light on the situation." The meeting apparently over, the Sages began one-by-one to disappear; then the Chamber itself wavered, and vanished from Elizabeth's vision.

* * *

A/N: Ugh. Terrible cut-off, but it's the best I can do. Here's hoping the next chapter doesn't take this long. 


	8. The Past Is Another Land

A/N: Yeah, it's official, you're not really reading the same story you were before. Sorry folks. I think this one's better though.

The Past Is Another Land

Elizabeth staggered as the smooth marble floor of the Temple of Time reintroduced itself to her feet. Briefly, she fought to keep her balance -- fought, and lost. Gravity prevailed, and she landed on her butt. For a moment, the teen just sat there as her head spun from the realization that she was in the Temple of Time. _The_ Temple of Time -- as in the one she thought was imaginary. Her mind went blank as her awed gaze moved from the triangular pedestal in front of her, to the enormous Triforce emblem surrounding it on the floor, to the gray stone walls and vaulted ceiling. Dazed, she stared upward for a moment -- fought to control her emotions -- and lost. Tears spilled down her contorted cheeks; her body was wracked with sudden sobs.

"Hello?"

The teen froze in horror; that was Link. _Did he hear me crying?_ she wondered; the thought mortified her. Immediately she tried to suppress her grief and wipe away any sign that she had been crying, cursing the loss of the long, thick hair that once might have hidden her face. Now it was much too short; it came only about to her eyebrows in front. It looked nice, but Elizabeth was starting to realize what an utterly useless haircut it really was.

"El--um... Liz?" Elizabeth wondered briefly if there was anyone else in Hyrule with four syllables in their first name. "Are you there?"

"Yeah," she responded dully. Her voice didn't shake, and that was good, but would it pass muster? The hero didn't really know her; maybe he wouldn't notice how low and croaky her words came out. There was a slight pause before the muted sound of well-worn boots on marble found its way to Elizabeth's ears; she prayed as she stood hastily that it wasn't caused by a realization that something was wrong.

"Hey, umm…" Elizabeth's face was turned away so that she couldn't see the hero, but she could hear the awkwardness in his voice as she tried to wipe discreetly at her wet cheeks. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she stated flatly, trying her hardest to make it plain that she didn't want to talk about it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Link bending over slightly, trying to peer into her face; she turned away further. Bad idea.

"No you're not." Elizabeth winced, but made no move to resist as the Hylian took hold of her elbow and led her off to the side of the Master Sword's pedestal; upon reaching the stone wall, he sat down against it, tugging at Elizabeth's sleeve to indicate that she should do the same. Elizabeth hesitated a moment, her pride reacting negatively to being led around by the hand -- err, elbow, then sat. There was a silence as they both got situated, Link sitting with one leg bent and the other outstretched, his right arm resting on the former, and Elizabeth hugging her knees and trying to look anywhere but at Link. The silence stretched on still longer, and then finally the hero spoke: "I know what it's like, you know."

"Yeah right." She didn't mean it to be heard, but Link's pointed, Hylian ears were sharper than she realized.

"No, really, I do," he insisted. "I didn't grow up here, you know."

"You grew up a lot closer than I did," Elizabeth retorted.

Link arched an eyebrow at her. "How do you know that?"

Elizabeth squirmed uncomfortably. "I just do." There was another silence. "So I guess Mr. Smith was really Ganondorf, huh?" For some reason, her chest started to swell up with sobs that she wouldn't be able to hold back in a minute. She didn't really understand why it was that just that thought upset her so much, more even than the realization that she was never going home again. Was it just that it was where it all started? Or maybe it had do do with her safe, predictable world being invaded by things she knew had never existed there before.

Link let out a short, one-syllable chuckle that had no real humor behind it. "Mr. Smith. So that's what he decided to call himself. Wonder where he came up with that one..."

Fighting the tidal wave of tears threatening to burst from behind her eyes, Elizabeth forced herself to ask: "My band -- are they going to be okay? I just... if he hurts KP, or Matt, or... or..." Her grief and fear burst free in that one moment; sobs that wracked her entire body made it impossible for her to say anything more; great, hiccuping sobs that she could no more have controlled than the weather. She felt an arm wrap itself around her shoulders, and though she would usually have resisted, she found that this time, she couldn't.

"Hey," she heard him say softly, "hey, it's all right. I don't think he'll hurt them; they're not part of his agenda. You know it was you he was after, right?"

"M-me?" she sniffed. "Why?"

Link sighed. "We're not sure," he admitted. "But when we saw him going after you... well, we couldn't just sit there. You weren't even from our world. You had no idea what was going on... excuse my saying so, but you didn't stand a chance." Elizabeth didn't bother to take the time to be in any way offended by his words. She just kept crying. Link sighed again. "I know this must be hard for you," he said, "but we felt it was the best way to keep you safe."

"And yourselves," she flatly. Link blinked.

"Well, yes," he admitted, "but we can take care of ourselves, mostly. I'll admit that we were concerned over what he would want with you, and what it would mean for Hyrule, but... we were also worried about you." Elizabeth looked up at the hero, feeling a little warmed by this -- although she couldn't stop the sobs.

"Th-thanks," she whispered, still sniffling. Link smiled.

"No problem, kid," he said, ruffling her hair fondly. Elizabeth scowled and ducked away, the same way she would have had it been one of her older brothers doing that.

"Don't touch my hair," she growled. Link laughed.

"All right then, I won't," he agreed, leaning back against the wall with a lazy smile. Elizabeth sighed, the worst of her tears spent -- although she kept sniffling from time to time.

"So is he still in my world, or -- or what?" she asked finally. Link frowned.

"Yes, he's still over there for some reason," he confirmed. "I can't imagine why. He must know by now that you're in Hyrule."

Elizabeth blinked. "How would he know that?" she asked.

Link's face darkened. "Easy: he was there when we took you." He sighed. "To you it was probably just a dream, but he tried to take you back himself, so that he could convert you to his side before we got to you."

"Oh, fantastic job he would have done of that," Elizabeth said sarcastically through her tears. "I was so heart-warmed by his earlier behaviors. You know, bullying a bunch of middle-school kids, and all that."

She could see that Link was confused by the term "middle school," but he smiled nonetheless. "Well, Ganon's always had a bit of an issue with taking on anything that isn't half his size or smaller," he said lightly.

"Huh." Elizabeth was quiet for a moment, wondering how many times bigger than her the Gerudo King was. "I guess so," she said finally.

"Yeah." Link was quiet too as he stared contemplatively at the flagstones in front of his feet. Then he spoke: "I know you probably want to go back home, but... will you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Give Hyrule a chance." Elizabeth was silent for a moment, so Link pressed on: "Look, I know it can be a little scary -- Farore, I was only ten when I first came here, and from all I was told, I was supposed to stay that way forever. I was terrified. All I'd ever seen before was my forest, which I was always told I could never leave, and suddenly there was this whole big world. There were things I never knew existed, and things I never thought I'd be without that were suddenly nowhere in sight... Like trees. I grew up in a forest; I'd never known anything else. By all the goddesses, I stepped onto this great big plain and... it was so completely strange. Without trees, I felt... lost." He shrugged helplessly. "I think that's when it really hit home, how out of place I was. It was a bigger, stranger world than I was ready for, and I was just one Kokiri. It was all I could do to keep from running back into the forest as fast as my legs could carry me."

"Why didn't you?" Elizabeth asked. "I probably would have."

Link smirked sideways at her. "You'd be surprised what you wouldn't do, given the choice," he said simply. "Do you feel better?"

Elizabeth thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah."

"Then we should get going," he said, and stood. Elizabeth placed her hand in the one he held out to her and pulled herself to her feet.

"You never really answered my question, you know," she pointed out as they walked towards the temple door.

"Pretty soon, you won't need me to." Elizabeth scowled at this new version of the phrase "you'll understand when you're older," but didn't comment. Instead, she stopped and turned to look back in the direction they had come from. Suddenly, she realized that she had walked right past the altar, where three shining stones defied every law of nature she had ever taken for granted, and hadn't even noticed.

"Are you coming?" Elizabeth turned back to look at Link, who watched her with concern in his bluer-than-blue eyes, and smiled.

"Right behind you, Link," she responded, and, turning her back on the altar, walked forward with him. One thing was for sure: her home world was gone from her. She would most likely never go back. But maybe, just maybe, she could adjust to this strange new place after all.

* * *

A/N: Geez, how long did I take this time? Sorry 'bout that, guys! Well, here's a new chapter. Sorry for the corny ending, but I got tired of being stuck on the same chapter. Now you know what my English teachers go through when I get sick on their essays on the conclusion paragraph. :) Still, I figured you'd rather actually have something up.

I'm really sorry it took so long. My life was insane this year, plus I suffered a severe lack of self-esteem where this story was concerned: "It's crap! I never want to look at it again!" You know the drill. I'm going to try and push through a little more this summer, if I can remember where I was planning on going with it after this chapter. I mean, I know what the general goal of the story is, but I don't remember what comes next. shrug It'll come to me.

To make it up to you, the next chapter has a one-week deadline, I promise. :)


	9. Not Your Average Fairytale

A/N: Sorry about the chapter mix-up with the story alerts. I didn't like my author's note anymore... especially since it occurred to me that maybe yelling at my reviewers isn't such a good idea. XD Do be sure and go check out Chapter 8, though, if you haven't already. BTW, I feel I should alert old fans that I have changed Ruadh's name to Radwan because I can't figure out how to pronounce Ruadh and I don't really like it all that much anyway. :P I tried to keep the name fairly similar, though, to eliminate confusion.

Also: I figured the rupee thing could get really confusing so since the Deku Shield cost 40 rupees in Kokiri village and I figure a wooden shield in America could cost... hmm... taking into account the fact that it's a small town filled with children (who usually don't have much money) and not a Ren faire or Disneyworld... probably around fifteen dollars, but we'll simplify that to ten, so... a rupee is equal to about a quarter in American currency. Five rupees still makes sense because they don't have the dollar to combine their rupees into. For any of you who don't live in America... I'm afraid I can't really help you. :(

And now, on to the next chapter. I swear I will finish this fanfic or die trying! ...Well, maybe not _die._ Suffer extreme embarrassment, maybe...

Not Your Average Fairytale

Elizabeth remembered well the day her grandparents took her and her older sister to a Renaissance festival in a nearby county. It rained so furiously on the way up that they had to pull over at a nearby McDonald's and wait for the storm to pass ,but the sun shone brightly on their rain-splattered windshield as they pulled in at the festival, promising a beautiful summer's day.

And a beautiful day it was. Although some of the people on the crowded, packed-dirt "streets" wore ordinary clothes, as Elizabeth and her family did, many more wore cloaks, tunics, corsets, and more in such fascinating array, Elizabeth found herself wishing she had worn her broom-skirt. They watched from the sidelines as two "knights" pretended their banter would eventually end in a joust; petted the knights' indifferent steeds; and feasted on barbarically messy legs of lamb that were much too large for anyone to finish. Elizabeth remembered her fascination with the dazzling array of goods displayed by their hopeful makers in various tents and kiosks, and the toy wooden sword and shield she eventually settled on. It had been a dream-come-true to a fantasy nerd like her.

That festival was nothing compared to this.

Elizabeth stared in gape-mouthed fascination at the hustle and bustle of Hyrule Castle Town. There was not a flip-flop or a visor in sight; no actors chased each other down the street, waving tin swords at each other in mock anger. Just like a modern city, everyone had somewhere to go and something to do, and no time for unnecessary drama. Jewelry there was, and some clothing, too, but as she and Link crossed the market square, Elizabeth noticed that most of the vendors here sold more practical wares: fruit, bread, pottery, and tools far outnumbered the sorts of trinkets she had admired at the Renaissance fair.

Elizabeth was startled out of her thoughts as a chicken burst across her and Link's path; then she felt her mind spin around and set off down a different track as a small child raced by in pursuit of the bird. Now that she thought about it, the group of women clustered around the vendor's stall a little ways away seemed awfully familiar, and when she concentrated, Elizabeth found that she could hear the old, familiar marketplace tune being played by a minstrel group somewhere. How did the game-writers even _know_ about these things? They weren't even very far off when it came to clothing. Although the blockish cartoons shown on the game obviously wore very simplified versions of what people seemed to wear around here, the basic idea was just about right, right down to the blazingly bright colors. _Where do they get that kind of dye?_ Elizabeth wondered. If she remembered correctly, dye had not come cheap in Earth's middle ages. Then again, she reminded herself, this was not Earth.

Between the colors, the sounds, the smells, and the chaos of her own mind, it wasn't long before Elizabeth felt as if she had been spinning around in circles in the same direction for a quarter of an hour. Soon, she gave up on thinking and just stared wide-eyed at all the chaos, trying not to be overwhelmed by sensory experiences. It was a good think Link had a firm grip on her hand, or Elizabeth would have been lost in a second.

Finally, they were through. Once the two of them were safely down the path to the castle, Link released Elizabeth's hand and turned to her, grinning.

"So what did you think?" he asked. Elizabeth blinked a few times, trying to reorient herself.

"I, um..." Elizabeth raised a hand to her head, as that would stop it from spinning. "I almost feel like I'm going to be sick."

Link's face fell slightly. "Not a great first impression then, I'd guess."

"Oh, no, that's not -- it was just a little..." Elizabeth trailed off, still searching for words.

"Overwhelming?" Link offered.

"Yeah," Elizabeth agreed, relieved that he understood. "I think I actually might like to go back there... but probably not for a _long_ time," she confessed.

Link nodded. "I know the feeling. Don't worry; you'll get used to it."

"I sure hope so," Elizabeth muttered; she still felt a little dazed. Link just laughed at her and set off up the path, motioning for her to follow.

The biggest difference between Hyrule and the Ren faire, Elizabeth decided as she hurried to catch up, was that Hyrule was not there for her entertainment. The people there were not actors, trying to create a fairytale environment so that people like her could escape reality for a little while. This _was_ reality, even if it wasn't _her_ reality. The people Elizabeth had just seen on the streets were just ordinary people, trying to get through the day in one piece. It gave Hyrule a special feeling of substance that Elizabeth knew no Renaissance festival could ever match.

It was unnerving, that was for sure, but in a way, she couldn't help but be a little excited. After all, wasn't this what she had been hoping for all along?

* * *

A/N: Well, the bad news is, I missed my deadline. :( I'm sorry guys! I really thought I could do it. The good news is, the next chapter is already like, half-written! Hopefully I can get it in before I head out to California to visit my mom.  



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